What is the SD’s opinion of a temp to perm position? Has any SD had success landing a permanent position after temping. Or, is it an easy-out for the employer? What else should I be asking? Maybe some SDs have a personal experience to share? - Jinx
I am doing it now even though it is at the high-end. I landed a consultant job that I was interested in already but I found out after I took it that it was actually temp-to-perm. There were many of us in the consulting jobs and the company let three of us know that we can stay and they intend to hire us. That was over 2 months ago and they haven’t done it yet.
Getting hired full-time for the stuff that I do actually comes with some disadvantages. I will most likely have to take a fairly steep pay cut and I lose some autonomy because I work for a consulting company now and I get to just work there will skipping the administrative BS for the most part. U will get benefits in exchange but I have many of them already.
I know of many other temp-to-perm positions and they are usually real. It gives them time budget and really try out a person before they hire them full-time.
I’ve worked a couple temp-to-perm jobs, and have had good experiences with both of them. It’s a nice way to see how the company treats its employees and whether it’s a good fit for you. I’ve heard of, and seen, some companies only hire temp workers for certain positions, so they’re rotating people every month, but I don’t think that’s the norm.
The position I’m in now, Customer Service Rep for a state agency was a temp to perm situation. Not on the face of it, I was temping in the job when the permamnent slot opened up, and I applied for it. They had to interview other candidates, by state procurement rules, but I had been doing the job six months at that point, and had the best shot at it. I felt kind of bad for the people coming in to interview, because I knew they were wasting their time. That was six years ago, so it’s worked out so far, but boy does this job have it’s ups and downs.
I’ve had offers to interview for temp to perm jobs that I have turned down. My take is that I already had a job and was shopping for another, so I couldn’t give up a perminant position with benefits for a temp to hire position without benefits. I would have rather stuck it out in my tolerable (most days) job than gamble and lose.
Another company was going to offer me a temp to hire position with absolutely no intention of hiring me…and wanted me to move 500 miles on my own dime for 6 months. If it is in your area and you are jobless, I say do it, you don’ thave much to lose…but if you are giving up a decent job or moving, consider carefully. I’ve never done it, so these are just my impressions based on no actual first-hand knowledge.
AbsoLUTELY!!!
One of my best jobs ever was a temp to perm. I’d probably still be there had the company NOT been run into the ground by an unethical new CEO at our headquarters in the lower 48. Sigh. 
There are a lot of good things about temping and temp to perm. It’s one of the best ways to find your best job fit without having to struggle through the job hunting heartache. If you’re not a good fit, you go on to another assignment, no harm/no foul on either your part, or the employers.
There are of course drawbacks as well. Mostly with the on again off again work schedule and no bennies until you’re finally hired by “the” company.
Best of luck!!!
I’m another temp to perm success story. Five months as a temp led to my current job, which I’ve been at for over five years.
That’s how I got this job. I’ve done it a few times, always with great results. You may think they’re checking you out before they make an investment (they are) but you’re doing the same. If they totally suck (like one job did), wouldn’t you rather know before you pee in a cup, start yet another 401K account and purchase their shitty stock?
My experiences with temp work are all negative.
Hostile working environments, lack of info about safety or equipment, extensive verbal abuse.
During the 6 years at my previous employer, almost every temp we had for any real amount of time ended up being hired.
They figured that if we’d taken the time to train the temp and they worked out okay it was better to pay off the agency than waste time trying to train someone new.
I did temp to perm for my first real job. It was a tech support job. They hired everyone through a temp agency, and you were trained on the software. Training was 2 weeks long. After that you were on the phones answering questions. After 90 days if you were still working there you were made permenant.
It was good for the company because if you couldn’t learn the software you were out. Also alot of people can’t do tech support day in and day out so they quit. Having all these people as temp saves alot of time on paperwork. The only down side I had was after I transfered to a permanent position, and then they had an opening at another help desk supporting different software. For a internal transfer you had to be with the company for 90 days. People that were still working for the temp agency didn’t have that problem because they wern’t with the company. After 90 days I transfered over so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
It all depends on the company.
-Otanx
It’s almost always a win - win situation
Gives you the opportunity to evaluate the employer
Gives the employer an extended evaluation period on your abilities
Only caution I would offer. Unfortunately there are some temp firms that will tell you a position is temp to perm when it really isn’t. I have seen this happen with technical positions. Firm will tell you anything in order to get you to take the job.
In my last job I used to hire temp to perm. We found it a way to evaluate a candidate and allow them to evaluate us. My opinion is, if you think it is a good job and if you are confident of your skills, go for it.
I’d recommend temp to perm; right now it’s very popular, especially for entry level positions. I got hired as a temp to perm CSR for what I thought would be a few months while I looked for another position. They hired me on ahead of schedule and the benefits are great, so I ended up hanging around. I got promoted, then moved departments to a project I really like. I’m trying to get promoted again this year, as we have some planned growth and I know that I’m in a small group of internal applicants that would be pretty likely to be considered. (I’ve been with the company about three and a half years.)
Unfortunately, not all companies have any real intention of hiring you. For our company, we do. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes TPTB drag their feet when we select someone, but we take the cream off the top first and anyone who can meet the requirements of the job will get hired sooner or later.
We’re moving away from temp to perm though, because despite it being nice to try people out and hire large numbers when growth hits us hard, we have the problem that we don’t get qualified applicants. A lower pay scale and no benefits means we really only recruit the jobless, and we want to start trying direct hiring again to see if we can get a different group of applicants. Unfortunately, the jobless often have reasons why they can’t stay employed – too high maintenance, can’t show up to work, won’t do much at work, and so on. There are some gems but sadly not many.
In the end, temp to perm is easy because we can get rid of the losers fast, but it’s more expensive than just hiring when we get too many bad applicants that we constantly have to replace and retrain. But from an employee point of view, temping is a great way to get your foot in the door and show them what you can do. When you’re the right person at the right time, a good company will take advantage of the skill they know you have. Internal applicants always have the edge, and you don’t have much to lose if you don’t like the company.
Would I leave a full time job I could stand for temp to hire? No. But, I’ve seen it work for a lot of people. Of all the leaders in my department (one manager, five supervisors), all were hired at entry level, and four of the five were hired as temps in the last five years, and that includes the manager.
Would I “temp to perm”? Well, yes. If I could afford to live on the temp pay for the time it took to be hired on by the company and if the company was a good company. I work for a Fortune 50 company which is ranked in the top 10 companies in the United States to work for, and we hire temp to perm all the time.
Worked out pretty good for me. 6 months temp, then brought on perm at the highest wage I could imagine for my qualifications.
I started with my employer as a temp. I’ve been there as a permanent employee for 15 years and been promoted several times. Worked out very nicely for me.
GT
I can’t speak to temping, but back in the day when I was involved in selecting interns, we always looked at the interns’ performance if we had a pemanent opening. I’d say over a period of about five years we invited half our interns to join us permanently.
Of course that means we didn’t ask the other half, so YMMV.
When we did temp to perm, the temp agency got a rate that allowed them to pay the amount we would pay + 15%.
I’ve done temp to perm both as an employee and as an employer. I’d have to agree it’s a win/win. If you are worth your salt and the employer is half way sane, it’s a nice fit.